Ice Cream Sandwich coming to 11 Sony Ericsson Androids

While this is without a doubt good news for Xperia owners, Sony Ericsson hasn't said just when its Xperia handsets will get the latest version of Google's mobile operating system. Many hardware makers such as HTC and Motorola have said Ice Cream Sandwich will hit their handsets early next year sometime.

"There have been a few questions here on the blog and in our support forums regarding our upgrade plans beyond Gingerbread," wrote Martina Johansson, a Sony Ericsson spokeswoman, on the company's product blog Tuesday. "We can today confirm that we plan to upgrade the entire 2011 Xperia portfolio to the next version of Android known as Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich.

"We are working on merging our current Xperia experience with the new features in Android 4.0. More detailed information regarding this upgrade, timing and global availability will be communicated in due course here on the blog."

While Sony Ericsson does make many phones, most running Android wear the Xperia brand.

The 11 handsets set for Ice Cream Sandwich upgrades are the "2011 Xperia portfolio," consisting of the Xperia Play (which features a slide-out gaming controller), the Xperia Arc and Arc S, Xperia Neo and Neo V, the Xperia Mini and Mini Pro, Xperia Pro, Xperia Active, Xperia Ray and the non-Xperia-branded Live with Walkman.

Ice Cream Sandwich, which Google's Android team designed to work on both tablets and smartphones, is set to make its phone debut on the Samsung-built Galaxy Nexus, which is expected to hit Verizon Wireless at some point before the end of the year.